It is common sense to compare the price of an item at different stores before you buy it. In real life, going from store to store can be arduous. But online, it’s just about opening a new tab. Yet, we get lazy even about that! That’s where browser extensions come in.

The Three Types of “Price Comparison”

Price comparison, at its simplest, is about comparing the price of the same item in two different stores. But there’s more to it than that. Online, price comparison takes three forms.

The first method is to compare the price between two stores immediately. The second way is to compare the price right now with the price at a different time. After all, the price you see right now may not be the best possible price for a product at any given time. Heck, if an item is expected to go on sale in a week, it makes sense to wait for the discount.

Want the best price on any product you’re looking at across retailers in the US, UK, and Germany? InvisibleHand is the king of the price comparison tools for a multitude of reasons. Let’s run through some of them.

InvisibleHand doesn’t need you to start it. It works silently in the background. When, and only when, it finds a better price than the one you are looking at, it’ll prompt you with toolbar-like alert.

Check the other prices on its various retail partners (you don’t even need to leave the page) and decide. Apart from products, InvisibleHand also supports hotels, flights, and other services.

PriceZombie is an excellent tool to find the price history of a product. It currently supports Amazon, Best Buy, CowBoom, Fry’s, Gander Mountain, Ikea, Payless ShoeSource, Target, Home Depot, and Tiger Direct.

Click the extension icon to get a drop-down pane with the price history from all sellers. The price history is a great way to figure out if you’re currently buying at a higher or lower price. If you’ve missed a sale, wait it out — you’ll probably get that price again soon or at another store.

The “product details” option offers additional data. For example, the Asus Zenbook UX305 dropped to a low of $499 for a new model on January 5; just five days later, the price is up to $749. Based on that data, you can choose to wait till the price drops again or look elsewhere for a deal close to that. Knowing when the price is at its best is as important as knowing if someone else is selling it cheaper right now.

So when you’re looking at new items on Amazon, click the Amabay extension icon in the URL bar. This opens a page that shows two columns: Amazon items and eBay items. Compare the prices and snag a great deal!

Which Price Comparison Method Do You Use?

Everyone has a different shopping style. In the real world, some people wait for end-of-season sales. Others buy the best price right now. The same behavior is seen in online shopping. So what’s your style?

Do you like to just compare prices and buy the cheapest? Do you check the price history and wait for the price to be at its lowest? Do you even consider used items? Tell us how you save money.